IOC, USOC Officially Sign Landmark New Revenue Agreement

IOC and USOC leaders today signed a landmark agreement that will rewrite the terms of their revenue-sharing arrangement after '20. The deal brings an end to seven years of negotiations aimed at rewriting an agreement that gave the USOC 12.75% of U.S. broadcast rights revenue and 20% of worldwide Olympic marketing revenue. IOC President Jacques Rogge said, “This has been quite a long process. We started negotiating in May 2005. The beginning was a bit difficult, but then we accelerated and reached this conclusion, which makes me very, very happy.” USOC Chair Larry Probst said, “This is a terrific arrangement for both the IOC and USOC. More importantly, it’s a great outcome for the Olympic movement around the world.”

With the deal done, talk immediately turned to when the USOC would bid to host another Olympics. The previous revenue-sharing agreement, which many Olympic constituents believed gave the USOC too large a share of Olympic revenues, was considered an obstacle to a successful U.S. bid. The USOC’s leadership had said it would not bid until it struck a new revenue-sharing agreement. Despite achieving that, Probst said it was premature to talk about the USOC’s strategy for bidding for a future Olympics.

IOC and USOC leaders declined to spell out the terms of the new deal. IOC Exec Committee member Richard Carrion said that the deal will see the USOC contribute money to cover the cost of future Olympic Games and will receive a smaller percentage of U.S. broadcast rights and Olympic marketing revenue. He added that the deal has an end date.